THE AUCTION

Lester POV

I leave the bar leaving my beautiful wife behind to keep investigating her friend. I cannot take this much longer, being away from her is killing me slowly. As a vampire, being without my mate is going to cause me to die prematurely. We need to find a way to end this soon, no matter how we have to end it. I hated to send her away, but she was the only one that could do this. We, the few council members who know we are still married, thought this was the perfect cover. When the decision was made to send in my wife to uncover Jules' atrocities, it broke my heart into a thousand pieces. She, on the other hand, took the mission like a chance to prove herself. She wants the authority to see her differently and to know that she is worthy of being with me. It is not her that needs to prove anything. I will never feel like I deserve her or her love. She has always been loyal to the authority and should not have to do this for them to honor our marriage..

Seeing her tonight, feeling her body for the first time in a very long time, reminded me that I need her home with me. I miss her and being with her every day. I need this to end now, no matter how. We decided not to call in Draco to help, but the time has come; we need him and Tatina to help us. The auctions have to be stopped now. There is no putting off calling in their help. They have more experience in shutting down the shit show auctions than anyone else. The authority does not want to work with Draco, but they will have to get over it. .

The auctions were banned five years ago. The private auctions were always illegal. Draco and Tatina went to war, stopping the auctions. Jayne, poor Jayne who lost her life trying to save Tatina, she had the best heart of any fairy I ever knew.The vampire authority is still pissy about the situation and how everything went down.

Now, I have to end all of this and bring my beautiful, hot sexy wife home to me. I never thought in all the years I have lived as a vampire that I could love a human as much as I love her. She is everything to me and after her, there will never be another. Someday I hope she will become a vampire so we can always be together, but she has made it clear that is not something she wants right now. I understand that, but her life is so fragile. I want to protect her and make her a vampire.

My driver pulls up to the authority building in downtown New Orleans. I have to brief Samuel on the latest developments with Jamie and everything else going on in New Orleans with the auctions. Which still is we know nothing. We know Jules is running auctions, but we do not know where. I am going to suggest to Samuel that we bring in Tatina and Draco to help us shut this shit down before someone gets hurt like my wife.

My driver opens my door. I get out of the car with Jamie. He will talk eventually. He might think he can keep his mouth shut but he will talk; they all do. The vampire authority has a way with unruly vampires. It will be painful and he will beg for it to stop long after he talks.

"Come on, Jamie. Let's go," I say to him as I hustle up the authority steps to what will be the worst night of his life.

Jamie walks slowly behind me, he knows that is coming for him and he is not in a hurry for it. That boy needs to get some pep in his steps before I take a cattle prod to his nuts.

We go into the main gate and continue up the stairs. I am turning Jamie over to Samuel to try to get information from him. The little prick will talk once Samuel gets his hands on him. They all talk for Samuel. No one has ever survived Samuel and Jamie will be no different.

Jamie begins to walk a little faster as we go up the stairs. I open the first door when we reach the second platform. "Come on. We are almost there," I say to him, smiling. I am sure he is eager to get this painful torture over. He could just talk and save us all a long night.

I go in the door; Jamie finally reaches the inside of the door to join me. Samuel is waiting for both of us, If Jamie is not eager, I know that Samuel is very eager and ready for tonight.

"Has he said anything yet. I would love to end this quickly. My wife wants to have dinner and a show in the park tonight. She is not happy that I am working late," Samuel says, trying to scare Jamie into talking sooner. .

"No, he has barely said two words since I picked him off Royale street," I say.

"Royale, what was he doing there?" Samuel asks.

"Probably looking for a tourist to feed on or a whore," I say with a laugh.

"Renae knows we have him?" Samuel asks.

"Yes, I saw her at the bar. I told her it is fine to tell Jules we have him. Maybe it will motivate him to come in and confess," I say.

"I will take him from here. If Jules comes around sniffing, send him my way. I would love to talk to him and catch up on old times," Samuel says.

"Before I go, Samuel, I have a suggestion about how to make this go a little faster. We would all like to end this," I say.

"What is it, Lester?" Samuel says.

"I think we should employ Draco and Tatina to help with this. They both have experience in these matters. They have closed down more auctions than we ever have. They are quick and if shit goes wrong they can take the blame," I say.

"I will take it under advisement. I know you want Renae home, but this might not be the way to do it," Samuel says.

"Samuel, I want this to end soon. I want my wife home," I say.

Samuel looks at Jamie. We have both already said too much. If Jamie escapes, Jules will know that Renae is in on this with us. "I understand your personal involvement in this matter. I feel your pain, but we have to be careful. Tatina and Draco are both reckless and you know it but they are effective," Samuel says.

"I understand, but I need this to be over. I cannot keep living with her," I say.

"You just want you precious little wife back. You think Jules does not know about her, but you are wrong. We have known for a very long time," Jamie speaks up.

We both stop to look at him. "What did you say?" I ask him.

"Your precious little wife. We all know you are still married," Jermine says.

"What does Jules know about Renae," I say.

"You think Jules is stupid. He knew the minute she rolled into his club what she was up to, and he knew you sent her. He will kill her or auction her off. Maybe he will fuck her first," Jamie says.

I grab Jamie by the throat. I will slaughter this little bastard and send his head to Jules in a box. Samuel tries to pull me off of him. Samuel may be higher in authority than me, but he is not stronger than me.

"We need him alive. We need him to talk, Lester. Back off of him, now," Samuel says.

"He won't tell us anything. This smug bastard will never say anything. Let me kill him now," I say.

Jamie laughs at us.

"Make the call to Draco and Tatina. We may need their help. Give them whatever they need to stop Jules. No matter what it is. The authority will back you," Samuel says.

"What about Renae?" I ask him.

"Watch her closely, put some men on her to make sure she is safe. Let Frenchman know she is compromised. Tell Frenchman everything. He will keep an eye on her until you can get her here with you," Samuel says.

I leave Jamie with Samuel. I need to make arrangements for my beautiful Renae. I need to get her home safely and away from Jules. I have to find Draco and Tatina. They are the only ones that can help us now. I never thought the authority would allow me to use them. Maybe Samuel understands now.

I go down the stairs to my office. I hurry past my secretary; I have no time for pleasantries at this moment. I need to find Draco and Tatina quickly. I sit down behind my desk. I grab my cell to text Renae first.

*Vampire bar on Decatur in an hour* I text her. I set my phone down to wait for her response.

I open the bottom drawer of my desk. I look for the file labeled Draco. I thumb through all the files quickly. Nothing. I look in the other drawer. Bingo. I pull out Draco's file. I skim over it, looking for some way to contact him. Finally, a phone number I can use to reach him.

I pick my phone up, still nothing for Renae. I punch in Draco's number to send him a text.

*Jules is back in business; we need your help. My wife is in danger. Please help me. Anything you want is yours*

I relax in my chair a moment, waiting to hear from Renae or Draco. I should have never sent her into Jules's club. It was stupid. I hope she can convince him she is not working with the authority if he questions her. I can always call Jake to go in raising hell to grab both Renae and Tara. He would be happy to have an excuse to crash the party. Tara would be pissed off, but they would both survive. They would live even if they were mad at me and Jake.

My phone dings twice. I lean up in my chair from my relaxed position.

*We will be in town by nightfall. see you soon* text from Draco.

*Jules is coming with us to the bar. See you soon. Love you* from Renae

I get up from my chair. I have to get to Renae now. Screw everything I have to make sure she is safe, nothing else matters but her. Jules has no business being in New Orleans anyway. I can pick him up for questioning based on being in the city without cause. He has not reported to the authority. I am sending men to get him and bring him to me. I will kill him and his brother.